“You always make me be the decoy,” Cosima huffs.
“I let you pick out our outfits, and I’m wearing pink! And there is a bow in my hair. I didn’t know they even had accessories,” Marks snaps back, like she gave over a kidney because she has to wear pink.
“You look adorable.” Cosima says it like an accusation. “You should be thanking me.”
“You know people die by friendly fire,” Marks informs her.
‘Are you threatening me?’ I have to bite the inside of my cheek to not laugh. The two of them together can be comedic gold. I’m loving that they are getting along—well, in their own way.
‘I’m only stating facts.’
‘I’ll have you know I was the best archer in my class.’
‘Archer?’ Marks and I say at the same time.
‘I got mad skills with a bow. What can I say?’ Cosima shrugs.
‘It’s not that; it’s that we didn’t know there was archery in school,’ Marks mutters.
‘Fancy private school. You know, the type we don’t know anything about,” I tell her.
‘That’s right. Switzerland.’
Cosima asks, ‘How did you know?’ Marks tends to know a lot of things. That better be something she learned while digging into my life when she was worried about me. We don’t need a reason to put Warren’s target back on Marks. Cosima switches her weapon in the middle of the game, only to be shot while in the process. ‘Freaking rude.’ She drops the controller.
‘It wasn’t me, I swear, but hold on.’ My eyes go to the screen to watch Marks shoot the person that shot Cosima before killing off the other two.
‘We won!’ Cosima claps. ‘I guess I do make great bait.’ I can’t help but burst into laughter.
Cosima and I have taken over the library. Warren even had a TV brought in so we could play with Marks. He was quick to make it happen, which surprised me with him not being a giant Marks fan, but Cosima let me know it was to stall our shopping day.
I had kind of forgotten about that. I must be used to just always being here. There are always things to do. Cosima, however, is going stir-crazy and is in no rush to return to Europe. I’m not in a hurry for her to go either. We have gotten close over the past few weeks, which is also how she and Marks started becoming friendly.
‘Wait, how did you know about where I went to school?’ Cosima playfully demands. She cocks her head, her brows pulling together. She has never looked more like a Marino than at this moment.
“You want the truth or you want me to make some stuff up?” Marks asks.
“This sounds juicy, and I’m here for it.” Cosima rubs her hands together.
“I just want to preface my actions by saying that I didn’t go looking for information because I was being nosy. I was worried about Tova.”
“So you were digging into my family.” Cosima glances over to me, that playfulness falling away again.
“She got busted,” I tell her. “And as you see, still my friend.”
“How did you dig into us?”
“Let’s just say I have a particular set of skills.”
“She’s a hacker, like Z.” I cringe. Marks was already on to someone with tech skills in the house.
“Yeah, like Z,” Marks confirms.
“We’re friends now, right, Marks?” Cosima smirks.
“You want something, don’t you?” Marks laughs.
“I want revenge!” Cosima jumps up from her seat.
“Oh, God,” I mutter to myself. This is not good, and I’m sure it’s not going to win Marks any points with Warren either.
“Oh, I love revenge. I’m in.” Marks is fully on board without any details.
“Seriously, Marks? You don’t know what she wants you to do.”
“Girl power.” I believe she’s in it for girl power, but there is more. I know her too well.
“Really?”
“Okay, and the tea. A revenge story comes with all the tea, and I love reality TV. If I can have the real thing, sign me all the way up.”
‘I don’t think this story is as juicy as you think. It’s on her brother, who she is always arguing with.’
‘He’s not really my brother,’ Cosima says, shocking the hell out of me.
‘Okay, there is tea here. Tea I didn’t know about!’ I’m going to murder my husband. How did he not tell me about this?
“Shit, why did I say that?” Cosima drops back down into her chair. I’ve read one too many romance novels for where my mind is now going with the two of them. Z is more controlling and overbearing with Cosima than either of her brothers.
“You got the hots for him,” Marks blurts out. “Okay, maybe I’ve read too many romance books.” Of course, Marks plucked those words right out of my head.
“What? I didn’t say that. He’s a jerk, and I think he’s inside my phone, and I want him out,” Cosima says extra defensively.
“All right; however, if your Z is indeed who I suspect, that may prove to be quite challenging. I will require the actual phone.”
“Really? You’ll look? Get him out of it?”
“I’ll take a peek, but I don’t know if I can get him out of it. Like I said, I’ll just have to see. Zero is pretty unstoppable.”
“Marks, you said you wouldn’t.” I’m leery about this entire plan. Warren already isn’t Marks’ biggest fan, and if he finds out she’s digging into Z, I know he will not be happy.
“I didn’t dig. He’s the one still sniffing around about me. Zero should clean up better after himself.”
“Right.” I roll my eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me. I didn’t!”
“Wait, she can see us?” Cosima spins around, trying to find where she might be watching us.
“I’m not watching you; I just know Tova.”
‘Oh, okay. So back to my phone. It can’t be mailed to you.’ Cosima and I say it at the same time.
‘I came to your city when you ghosted me. I’ll stick around for a bit.’
“I didn’t ghost you.” Warren took my phone, and maybe she slipped my mind for a second, but things got crazy, and I had too much champagne.
“We’ll meet you,” Cosima cuts in. “You trust her, right?”
“I trust her.”
“Then, we meet her.” Cosima smirks, snapping her fingers. “The shopping trip. That’s a good cover.”
“I can’t lie to my husband.”
“We’ll still shop, obviously.”
“I hate shopping,” Marks mutters.
“You’re on the phone. No shopping for you. I clearly need to be in charge of this operation.” Cosima glances at me. “Or you roll out a window while we try to do it.” Both she and Marks burst into laughter.
“Shopping places don’t have windows that open and close,” I say dryly. I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh with them. I’m not indulging in this, though I do love that the two of them are clicking.
“I still think you’d find a way.” Cosima shakes her head at me.
“She would,” Marks says through laughter.
“Are you two done?” I ask.
“Done? We’re just getting started.” The wicked smile on Cosima’s face makes me wonder how much we’re all about to bite off and chew. I know it’s definitely going to be more than we can handle.
“I don’t want to know any of the details of the phone handoff or the meetup. As far as I’m concerned, this is just a shopping trip. I’m not lying to Warren.” If they don’t tell me any of the ins and outs of their plan, then I’m not being untruthful to Warren. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
“I see where you’re going with this. It’s probably best if Marks and I plan the shopping trip,” Cosima uses air quotes. “That way you have plausible deniability and all.” She smiles wide, so damn pleased with her little plan.
The last thing I think this shopping trip is going to be is little.
